WSI www Experts Trinidad and Tobago

Digital marketing is a vital part of the business landscape. In recent years, it’s been the go-to strategy for reaching a wide audience.

But how do you get your message through to people who are inundated with content daily? You can employ simple tips to help drive your digital marketing in Trinidad and Tobago.

Getting noticed is tougher these days. Make it easier with slight alterations in your messaging for social media, mobile marketing, and website content.

Think about how you prefer to receive information. Is it from someone long-winded, or with a passive voice? Or would you respond better to tightly woven comments that move you?

Use these tips from Content Marketing Institute and engage more potential customers:

* Lead with verbs, not nouns. It is more active and motivating

* Edit, and watch your sentence length. Try using sentences with no more than 14 words, or you’ll lose many people.

* Write 1 – 2 sentences per paragraph. This format is best for the scanning people do when reading online.

* Read your messages aloud. This is a good test for what your audience will experience.

* Provide good content. Is it concise, informative and attractive?

Think about how you come across in the fast-paced world. Don’t let your efforts in digital marketing in Trinidad and Tobago get lost in the shuffle. Get help…be smart, be brief, and be noticed.

It may not be as simple as it seems. Knowing just how social media marketing works, and how best to utilize it, can have a big impact on your social media optimization in Trinidad and Tobago.The following quote out of a recent Convonix social media marketing conference in Mumbai sums it up well. It explains that engagement in social media is more than ads on Facebook or spamming people on Twitter. “It’s a philosophy of being open and interacting with existing, and potential customers”.

There’s no doubt that social media drives much of consumer behavior and influences decisions these days. Consider these statistics.

• Most word of mouth is positive on social media… with 80% of product ratings garnering 4 or 5 out of 5 stars.
• 53% of people on Twitter recommend companies/products in Tweets, with 48% stating their intention to buy.
• 81% received advice from friends through a social site relating to a product purchase, with 74% finding the information influential in their own decisions.

Getting in the game

Developing a plan of action and aligning it with your goals requires assessing your role in the enterprise, and some consideration of why people access social media for business.

• Know the intent of your audience and the reasons they access the various social media channels

• Take stock of your relevance in using Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and any other platforms
• Understand your industry and competitors and how they are using social media

Once you’ve developed a plan of action, it is vital to integrate your marketing strategy across channels and tie it to your website. Develop a common voice and consistency in your presentation. Conduct a regular, engaging flow of content and commit to monthly reporting of your results.

Monitoring is vital to social media optimization

The statistics above demonstrate the high rate of positive talk on social sites when it comes to reviews…but what if there is a negative review? Don’t fear, instead, use it as an opportunity to address issues. American Express reports 70% of people expect an apology for bad service or support.

If you aren’t monitoring your social media, you miss an opportunity to correct a problem and to keep it from spreading. Go back to the philosophy of being open, and of interacting. Reach out to consumers to have a dialogue, let them be heard, and finally, educate yourself to avoid future problems.

Social media marketing and it’s optimization requires effort, but can truly boost your company’s presence and reputation,and it can generate leads, and inspire new customers and clients. Busy entrepreneurs looking for social media optimization in Trinidad and Tobago may want to hire a firm to develop and conduct a plan… look into it today.

Peer pressure works. I think we have all experienced a moment when we became followers, rather than instigators. But in the business world… leading is your goal. So, why aren’t you invested in social media marketing Trinidad? You may be saying, “we already have a Facebook page”, which is very helpful… but are you in the Twitter game as well? It’s not new… Twitter has been around for 5 years, but the potential for it to help your business grow is only recently being discovered, and who knows how far it could take you.

• 88 of the Fortune Top 100 use Twitter daily.
• 80% of customer service Tweets are negative… so you want to be there to monitor, manage, and respond!

Contact WSI in Trinidad today (868 390 9251) for your Free Consultation.

Lead Generation is a critical element of a Marketing and Sales strategy because without a continuous stream of leads from your existing customers and new prospects there would be no potential sales.  In a whitepaper titled, Taking Online Lead Generation to the Next Level, Deven Pravin Shah, a WSI Digital Marketing Consultant, included “Develop a  Go To Market Plan“ as a key element of taking your plan to the next level – a summary of the white paper can be found here.

In my  previous post I gave an overview of the fundamentals of Socially Facilitated Marketing and Sales (SFMS) as a Lead Generation strategy and outlined the 10 Foundational Steps for a SFMS Programme.  The 10 Foundational Steps elaborate a “Go To Market Plan“, but they required further articulation and at the point in time it would have caused the post to be too long.

Good News!

Two days ago Vishay Singh of AVAX Consulting was invited by WSI Por Marketing to speak on their Episode 61 Bi-Weekly Community Call about SFMS.  Vishay elaborated on each of the 10 points and I wanted to share this with you so you can take the notes.

Here is the link to the Bi-Weekly Community Call and as a bonus you can view the slide presentation that was used at the webinar the previous week whilst you listen to the show.

Contact WSI in Trinidad today (868 390 9251) for your Free Consultation.

Contact WSI in Trinidad today (868 390 9251) for your Free Consultation.

In a recent presentation, Vishay Singh of Avax Consulting put forward the idea of Socially Facilitated Marketing and Sales. He premised the idea on the following thought by Larry Norman:

“I’m fishing for men (customers and prospects) with a certain kind of bait, and the bait that I am offering is not a candy; it’s a very specific thing that I’m offering, which is a deep gospel and a deep conversion.”

He went on to define Socially Facilitated Marketing and Sales as “the new online layer that needs to be added to businesses that feeds the business with strategic information and measurements … that opens up new relationships and customer interactions.”

He identified the key components of this new online layer as:

• Online Rpeutation Management (ORM)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Business Analytics
• New Tools
• New Training for the Sales Force

He clarified that it is not just about the “how to use” the tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, but involved the development of a strategy that “marries” traditional off line marketing strategies with online strategies. In his words,

It “is the ability to forge a seamless link between offline and online marketing by” integrating the following elements:

• The 5P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People),
• The 4C’s (Customer Solution, Customer Cost, Convenience, Communication),
• The 7 Step Traditional Sales Process (Pre Approach, Approach, Needs Assessment, Presentation, Meeting Objectives, Getting Commitment, Follow Up) and
• Dovetailing it with the Customer Buying Process.

Arising out of the aforementioned thoughts, he listed the 10 Foundational Steps for a Socially Facilitated Marketing and Sales Programme as:

1. Define and know your Goals
2. Build your Organization as a Team
3. Online Reputation Management (ORM) Plan
4. Understanding the Competitive Landscape
5. Knowledge Harvesting of Relevant and Current Knowledge
6. Development of appropriate Policies
7. Determine and Pilot Specific Marketing Initiatives
8. Performance Measurement and Reporting
9. Integrated Sales Approach – Getting to the final desired conversion
10. Return on Investment (ROI ) – It’s not only about the money!

In terms of the central tool, the foundational stone, on which these 10 Foundation Steps would rest, is a Blog – “Utilize a Blog as your SFM&S Cast Page, as the link between your Social Media layer and your Search layer.”  Here is the infographic that Vishay used to illustrate his point:

The Rational: Fundamentally, for B2B, Blogs can generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not Blog and even more for B2C.

Developing an SFM&S Programme can give your company that competitive edge.  Contact WSI in Trinidad today (868 390 9251) for your Free Consultation.

Create Quality Strategies For Your Business 320-9347

The most effective and best way to use social networks is to research and choose the ones that most closely matches your market. Find the networks that most closely resembles your “ideal customers” and then spend some time to really network and become part of the group. Francois Muscat is a WSI Digital Marketing Consultant. He says after you decide where your “ideal customers” are, spend time building relationships. Visit the group often. Building takes time. The results you get are strongly related to the effort you put in.

The above are Muscat’s words in brief. The bottom line is if you want to do something about your company’s web presence. Research, choose, and get to work.

There is a lot of information available. There is a lot of free advice to be had by all who have time to search.  What can we, the Digital Marketing Consultant, do for you? We ensure that the leads you get are quality leads. We  tell you how to understand the language of your website through web analytics. We make sure you do not fail at social media. Our fingers are on the wires feeling for the buzz about your business. We tell you about the competition. We give you the necessary information that takes the guessing out of your company’s future marketing strategies.

Call us today at 320-9347

We talk  a lot on this site. We can talk till you are blue in the face or bored to death about digital marketing. But we are also ready for action. You take care of your business and we will mind your back. Who’s talking about you? What’s the competition doing? What markets should I be going after? Should I have a mobile website? Can I handle my own  Social Media Marketing?

If you have questions; we have answers. If you are ready to control your internet presence but don’t know where to start; we can show you the statistics .

Internet Marketing is different from previous offline marketing. You don’t have to hire a professional photographer. You don’t need to print. The marketing budget does not have to be 5digits and more.  One thing that is major is your commitment.  You need to be ready to commit your time. Your dollar commitment must be constant.

Call us for your free consultation.

A summary of a whitepaper produced by: Deven Pravin Shah(WSI Digital Marketing Consultant)

My current strategy isn’t yielding the results I thought it would. How do I keep my competitive edge without squeezing my marketing budget?

Five Ways to Capture New Market Niches

1. Discover your business potential
2. Optimize your current initiatives, maximize your returns
3. Develop a “go-to-market” plan
4. Establish a content strategy
5. Implement a web analytics program

Discover your business potential.

You need to examine your industry market. What is the full potential of your industry?  What is the real demand for your product or service? Check market research and trends for your industry. If you can’t find any official documents the internet can give you a fair idea of what is happening. You just need to dig.  There are a variety of research tools available; many of them are free. Do you see growth in the future? Do you think you can satisfy that growth? Who is your competition and who in your industry is best poised to move with the trends? You can validate your assumptions with online research. Do you know of any new competition? Do you know what your competitors are doing? Are you losing market share to any of these competitors?

The internet enables you to:

1. Expand your reach to people and geographic locations.
2. Learn what related products and services have business potential. Sometimes it’s a matter of changing minor things with your product or service. Or maybe simply changing your message.
3. See new market niches where you can expand.  89% of people search for answers to their questions early in their buying cycle.

Today potential customers search on Google, Yahoo! or Bing to answer their questions. Researching these searches provides a tremendous opportunity to discover who is getting the largest shares of this traffic

Avinash Kaushik brought up an interesting idea. In a brick-and-mortar store, you want to maximize your shelf space. Consider the fact that your product may be sharing a shelf with similar products; you want yours at the front of the shelf. On the Internet, your website is competing with other sites to pop up while searching for an answer to their question, you got an opportunity to capture their attention. Your website helps you with branding, lead generation, online reputation management and also business intelligence, as you get to understand how your customers think.

An in-depth competitive analysis based on real data takes the guesswork out of your marketing strategy. An good analysis can show you:

1. How your competitors are growing their business using the Internet
2. How your website compares to your successful competitors
3. What you can do to gain and retain your competitive advantage
4. Strategic opportunities for your business
5. Evolving customer behavior and preferences
6. How much your options would cost and their potential upsides

Optimize your current initiatives – maximize your returns.

A typical business has the customer life-cycle: get new customers, serve those customers and retain their loyalty, and get more business from current customers.  Seth Godin explains in his book Permission Marketing, good relations with your customer database  is the most important asset a business can have . Get to know them, know what they like, educate them, and cultivate interactivity.  If you have the right tools all this is possible. When done right, you can actually cut down your marketing budget and free resources that you can leverage for other business initiatives. Here are examples of the tools you can develop.

Email Marketing. Promote your product and educate your clientele.

Social Media Channels. Cultivate interactive relationships, and build credibility.

Maximize Returns from Current Marketing Channels. Connect and compliment each of your marketing strategies. Are you taking advantage of tradeshows? Follow up is just as important as being there and showcasing your products and services. Use a website, email marketing and social media to bring more people to you at these events.

Find the opportunity by analyzing your marketing strategies and business goals and get a realistic idea of the potential opportunity for your business. Is this opportunity constrained by any of your past actions or in-actions or your company’s philosophy?

Develop a Go-To-Market Plan

What will help you get over constraints that are coming at you? It may be your website, your advertising, choice of demographics or building exposure in specific areas. A WSI Consultant can help you figure it out.

Focus? What are your business goals for this year? What is the marketing budget? What does it take to serve your customers? What kind of changes can you make immediately? What would make sense to do in the long run? Take all of these questions into consideration. Then pick your battles so your business can grow smoothly.

Establish a Content Strategy

Communication and networking are the two primary components of a business marketing strategy and public relations campaigns. They help give solutions. People are searching because they need your help.

Content Strategy creates information. Social Media Strategy creates conversation, while reducing cost and expands your reach. E-mail marketing cultivates relationship and introduces new ideas. All of this improves your ability to be found by the search engines.Eighty-nine percent of the people using search engines are looking for answers early in the buying cycle. Be the one to answer the questions and you’ll do wonders for your brand, PR and lead generation.

Your website is the glue that holds your marketing together. It’s a key component of a content strategy. Use its 24/7 presence to leverage advertising, social media interactions, email marketing, tradeshows or any other offline marketing initiative. Your website is a critical piece in your search engine strategy.
Use analysis based on real data before deciding which media will be the most effective for your content strategy. Don’t go by hunches. How much time do you spend creating customer support documentation and answering calls? How well are you able to leverage it for branding, lead generation and relationships?

Implement a Web Analytics System

Common goals of a Website: E-commerce, Questions and Answers, Lead Generation(driving traffic to your website), communication and support, and of course lower costs.

With your business goals in mind  use the information from your website to decide which strategy right now will serve you the best results.
Web analytics provides you with an excellent opportunity to capture data. But that’s only the start.
1. Filter the data for different criteria. That gives meaningful insights for marketing.
2. How does a customer behave on your website? Learn that and you will know how to sell better. It’s also a powerful intelligence tool that you can leverage for business strategy and growth.
3. Define goals for your website. Compare different traffic sources and marketing channels. See customized reports that show clearly how they are helping to achieve your goals.
Ask your WSI Consultant for more on this.

Summary

Find a small market niche that your company can handle easily. Leverage current marketing channels to attract their attention. Augment strategies that will expand your reach. Use web analytics to measure. Have a WSI Consultant help you to understand how your customers behave and think. With that you will be able to see, capture and sustain market niches.